ABSTRACT Academic scholarship has neglected histories of waiters and barmen in South Africa, and the very small literature on the hotel industry neglects its work force. This article aims to address this omission by focussing on the life histories of five Indian men in Cape Town who worked during the apartheid era, a time of forced removals, job reservation and segregation in all aspects of life. The article especially links the racialized residential space with the work space of the hotel in the white space of the city and highlights the contradictions these produced. It explores themes such as entry into the sector, the meaning and nature of the work, the idea of stigma, work as performance and customer–waiter conversations. While this sector is often presented as servile and lacking skill, through these male narratives we see representations of power, skill, creativity and pride. Through the life history method we are able to draw comparisons between work in this sector and other sectors such as retail sales and proprietorship. There are differences in the stories told. In some the hand of apartheid is heavy and stifling, while in others there is a clever navigation through these times.

中文翻译：

---

在种族隔离时代等待开普敦：印度服务员和酒保的生活史

摘要 学术奖学金忽视了南非服务员和酒保的历史，关于酒店业的极少文献也忽视了其劳动力。本文旨在通过关注开普敦五名在种族隔离时期工作的印度男子的生活史来解决这一疏漏，他们在种族隔离时期工作，这是一个被迫搬迁、工作保留和生活各个方面种族隔离的时期。文章特别将种族化的居住空间与城市白色空间中的酒店工作空间联系起来，并突出了这些产生的矛盾。它探讨了诸如进入该行业、工作的意义和性质、污名的想法、工作表现和客户-服务员对话等主题。虽然这个部门经常被描述为奴性和缺乏技能，通过这些男性叙事，我们看到了权力、技能、创造力和自豪感的表现。通过生活史方法，我们能够将这个部门的工作与其他部门（如零售和独资企业）进行比较。讲述的故事存在差异。在某些情况下，种族隔离的影响是沉重而令人窒息的，而在另一些情况下，则有一种巧妙的方式穿越这些时代。